Furness hopes Mohawk will be good luck charm again

Published 7:00 pm, Thursday, July 23, 2009

West Texas United forward Dominic Furness is the easiest player to spot on the field. He's the one with the Mohawk.

Furness shaved his head to its current hairdo on Tuesday, right before Wednesday's 2-1 victory against Austin at Grande Communications Stadium in the first round of the Premier Development League divisional round of the playoffs.

Furness has had an ever-changing hair style throughout the season from a long-haired Mohawk to a diagonal Mohawk to his current, traditional Mohawk.

Furness' styles are courtesy of team barber and Sockers defender Michael James who has been cutting Furness' hair since the beginning of the season.

"(Furness) just told me to cut it and I cut it how he wanted it," James said. "Dom asked me one day if I thought he could get the back of his hair. Since then, it's been a little bit more and a little bit more."

Whatever Furness has been doing, don't expect him to stop now, especially after his game against Austin.

Furness scored the game-winning goal in the 51st minute. He said he plans on keeping it when the Sockers take on Laredo today at 8:15 p.m. during the divisional finals at Texas A&M International University Soccer Complex.

"I'm definitely going to keep it for Laredo," Furness said. "I may even keep it as long as we keep winning."

Another highlight for Furness during the Sockers' victory was his best friend Ben Everson scoring the game's tying goal. Both Furness and Everson grew up in Middlesborough, England, and both attend West Texas A&M University.

"He's the one who got me to West Texas," Furness said. "Ben referred me to the coach at WTU."

Furness later returned the favor by being instrumental in Everson leaving the PDL Southeast Division's Bradenton Academics and coming to the Sockers.

Everson is now the second leading scorer on the Sockers with six goals in seven games.

Furness hasn't been known as a prolific scorer. He's only scored one goal during the regular season, but it was a big one.

He scored the game-winning goal against Rio Grande Valley in the Sockers' 3-1 victory on Sunday that clinched a playoff berth and home field advantage in the first round. His goal in the 65th minute gave WTU a 2-1 lead. He also assisted the other two goals.

His performance against Rio Grande Valley was good enough to garner him PDL Player of the Week honors. He said he was as surprised as any when he heard about it.

"Normally it goes to people who scored like four goals in a game and I only scored the one goal and two assists," Furness said. "Ben was joking with me saying I think I'm a superstar now."

He may not be a superstar quite yet, but lately he's seemed to be in the right spot at the right time.